World Bank reports ‘global surge’ in digital payments during pandemic

World Bank graph showing global surge in digital payments during Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has driven a “global surge” in digital payments with two-thirds of adults worldwide now making or receiving digital payments, rising from 35% in 2014 to 57% in 2021 in developing economies and from 88% in 2014 to 95% in 2021 in high-income economies, according to the World Bank’s Global Findex 2021 database... More


ING to pilot UWB for contactless P2P payments

Two UWB smartphones making contactless P2P payments without needing to enter personal data using NXP and ING tech

Dutch bank ING is to pilot a payments feature that uses ultra wideband (UWB) technology to enable consumers to make peer-to-peer (P2P) mobile payments to another user’s smartphone without needing to find, enter or exchange personal data such as their email address or phone number... More









Global shipments of contactless payment cards top 2bn in 2021

Contactless card being tapped on payment device

The total number of contactless payment cards and modules shipped globally exceeded 2bn for the first time and accounted for more than three-quarters of the overall total of 2.63bn smart payment card and module shipments during 2021 (76%), according to figures released by the Smart Payment Association (SPA)... More







Global chip shortages drive increased costs for contactless card manufacturers and issuers

the NIlson report red and black logo

The price of EMV-compliant chips supplied to contactless payment card manufacturers increased by more than 50% in 2021 and is expected to rise by more than 20% during 2022 with the overall cost to card issuers for finished first-use plastic cards rising by between 5% and 20% during 2021, according to US research firm Nilson Report... More